A Tribe that seems to fill the lowest places in the nation, human society and even the wild. However they shouldn't be counted out as they have shown if anyone can survive in a place the Bone Gnawers can.

Basic Beliefs

The Bone Gnawers understand where the wyrm truly breeds - in despair, sorrow and pain. They know that those who society would like to pretend don't exist are the one who are the easiest prey for the wyrm.

The Bone Gnawers put themselves in the same place as those they need to help: people who are chronically homeless; those with serious mental and medical issues; people who won’t speak to authority figures like therapists and social workers. In the World of Darkness why should they, when the hand that feeds you might well belong to the teeth that bite you? A Church soup kitchen might be under the influence of a vampire who could be using those who go there regularly as herd.

The Gnawers know you need to give someone your shoulder to help lift them up not merely yank them up from above and risk them dislocating a shoulder.

It has been suggested that the Bone Gnawers originated in India. This is also where Buddhism originated; a philosophy that says suffering comes from want for possessions and encouraged those joining to take a vow of poverty. Coincidence?

The idea of giving everything up because possessions blind us to the suffering of others and don't make us any happier show up in many places. The Bone Gnawers get close to those who suffer from societies' blind spots: Homeless Veterans; The Mentally Ill; Those who fall on hard times. The Bone Gnawers are there to give them a leg up, or at least a shoulder to lean on when things get tough.

Political Landscape

The Political divide in the Gnawers is all about how they should approach the Garou Nation as an institution. Should they tear it down or work with what is there?

Rebels

The current state of the Nation is old and broken and needs to be torn down. There needs to be something else there. The Rebels range from the politically savvy who want to build a new order, to angry young punks who want to scream and wreck shit.

The most intelligent of the Rebels have looked to the past to see that something in the nation must soon break. The Silver Fang High King is mad and the Nation has lost confidence in him. A revolution is coming and who better to help with it than the Bone Gnawers? It's high time the tribes sat down and figured out how to write up a proper constitution.

There are also more nihilistic members of this movement who feel that everything needs to be burned down; the only way to weed out poor leaders is with a bloody and violent revolution that cuts out the corrupt.

Then on the lowest rungs there are the younger garou who have no higher agenda - they just want to smash things and express their anger.

Conventionalists

The Bone Gnawers have always led through example and by doing. This group ranges from those who feel they can change minds by being the good example more then causing trouble, and those who feel it's the tribe's purpose to be at the bottom of the pile.

There is a certain train of thought that the Bone Gnawers have always operated on a show don't tell type of operation. They show they understand the homeless by being homeless. They bring attention to those on the bottom of the heap by being the bottom of the heap.

More mixed packs are starting up and this means that the Bone Gnawer influence is spreading to almost every pack. There is also the power that comes from people not being afraid to talk about their plan in front of a Bone Gnawer Janitor. This allows them to spread the information they wish those who think they are above them to spread and sabotage those they wish to. A smart Conventionalist is also a master manipulator.

Some in this camp argue that they feel the Bone Gnawer's power comes from being underestimated, pushing too hard would bring too much attention to them.

There are some Bone Gnawer who admittedly believe that the Bone Gnawers are meant to fill out the bottom ranks. Someone has to be the rank and file, someone has to be cogs in the machine for it to operate These Bone Gnawers believe the tribe should just shut up and accept their place. This has a bad side effect of enabling there to still be Bone Gnawer populated serfdoms.

Camps

Deserters

A growing camp which concerns some. This isn't even always a movement really but some times it's just people leaving. Being a member of the Bone Gnawers isn't easy, they place themselves in a world of struggle and despair, turning away no one, some times Bone Gnawer is the only option other than Ronin.

This means some times the Garou will decide everything is too much and leave escaping into the Umbra. Surely out in the Spirit World there is a perfect place to escape all the suffering of the world?
Some Deserters go mad and leave the material world behind and vanish almost right away.

Others become experts on the ever shifting world of the Umbra, but no one of the Deserters is entirely sane.

Frankweilers

The Common People have always had their own form of art, weather it is folks songs, graffiti or yarn bombing, the ability to express yourself is vital to one's spirit. That is what the camp the Frankweilers
believe.

This camp works to try and educate people who might normally have a chance at a proper education, and protect public places that the less fortunate can find Art and Literature. Giving people joy, hope and knowledge is a great defense against the wyrm's influence. That is what this camp embodies.

FAQ

Why take the Secret Places no One Wants?

Because no one wants them! Take not action that may cause a Caern to fall someone has to watch those caerns. The Gnawers catch the things that fall through the cracks that includes caerns.

Why not take Power?

Power doesn't do a lot other than give you people to try to organize who will only listen to you if it suits them. As much as the Silver Fangs crowing about how much they run? How many of the tribes respect and follow them?

True leaders are those who can organize and help others to succeed without a fancy title behind them.

Why Allow groups that Seem to Ignore The Tribe's Goals?

The philosophy of the tribe is that people who are cast aside, abandoned and aren't helped by others are doors through which the Wyrm enters. Ronin are the Garou most likely to become Spirals; by giving those outcasts a second chance and the protection of a Tribe the Bone Gnawers save these 'lost' garou from walking the spiral out of loneliness or desperation.